Martha: Defender of Time
by MallRatGold
Summary: Martha is sucked through a space/time rift that appears in London and gets pulled back to ancient times, with no Doctor to save her, she has to turn to new friends to help her in a strange new world. Crossover with Xena: Warrior Princess and Hercules
1. Doctor Martha Jones

Doctor Martha Jones

Martha looked at the alien corpse with great disgust, quite a few she had come across during her travels had humanoid forms and she was hoping that this body the hit squad had brought for her to check out would be no different. That was not the case however as the alien was a true monster with tentacles hanging all over the table it was lay on, Martha wasn't excited about cutting it open and getting an unhealthy splattering of slime greeting her. The alien itself has been brought in a couple of hours earlier, the team that were dispatched to deal with it had found it dwelling in the sewers beneath London. The alien had been hostile and because of the nature of the team they were quick to remove the threat, so now whilst Martha was about to perform an autopsy on the remains. The team was probably in the showers washing away the stink of the sewers they came from, Martha let out a sigh. She loved her job, it was out of this world. Almost as brilliant as her travels through time with the Doctor, though there were instances when the job wasn't exactly thrilling. Like nights like this, inspecting the remains of monstrous freaks and the time when she met Captain Jack and his Torchwood team members Gwen, Owen, Ianto and Toshiko. She enjoyed meeting the actual people and her first mission going undercover at the Pharm but the events that transpired afterwards showed the less than amazing side of alien life and doing her type of job, the young Doctor then made her way towards a window. It was raining outside, she looked out at the City. Completely oblivious to everything that had happened in the world concerning alien life, despite the amount of times alien life had been discovered. The government put it down to drugs in the water or something to that extent but Martha and the select few people knew better, as she continued to look something caught her eye. Like a spark, at first she thought that was just the City lights cutting out. But as she took a closer look, she realized it was something different. Something dangerous…

"Its Doctor Jones, I think there's something that you should check out" Martha said in a flash over her communicator, she then threw it to one side and rushed towards the door of her office. Barging through it and rushing out into the corridor, almost colliding with a tall blonde man wearing a white doctors coat similar to the one that Martha was wearing.

"Martha what is it?" the blonde asked, with a concerned expression on his clean-shaven and handsome face.

"I saw something in the City, I don't know what it is. But it doesn't look natural." The medic said, as a thought suddenly flashed through her mind. 'Should I call the Doctor' Martha didn't know why she thought it, UNIT were more than capable of dealing with something at this level. But she must have thought it for a reason, a tingle filled her stomach, maybe this could be a big threat. Maybe UNIT needed the Doctor?

"I'm going down to speak to the technicians about it, you coming with?" Martha added.

"Oh I have a report to work on, fill me in later?" the man said with a gentle smile.

"Course see you later Jim" Martha said before rushing off

"What a woman, too bad she's got a fiancée." The blonde guy Jim thought aloud.

* * *

Half an hour later, Martha was sat in the backseat of a black jeep next to a blonde soldier woman who wore her hair in a bun. In the front were two man, a seemingly middle aged man with brownish grey hair and a younger man with black hair who seemed to be of oriental descent. The woman was called Clare or rather Lt Clare Moore, the middle aged man was always known as Sergeant Rupert Gregory and the oriental guy was called Tom Harris, he didn't have a military title he was just a technician for UNIT. Martha peeked out of the window and spotted another black UNIT truck driving alongside them presumably carrying more UNIT personnel sent to investigate Martha's sighting. She suddenly thought of the Doctor again, why? She thought? She had carried out dangerous tasks before alongside UNIT and Torchwood without needing him, why was her gut instinct telling her that she needed the Doctor now.

"We are under instructions to investigate Doctor Jones's sighting only, no reckless diving into the crossfire so to speak and getting London into a whole heap of trouble for the government to cover up yet again. Lt Moore and myself will accompany the personnel in the other jeep to secure the area, Mr. Harris you will discover what the anomaly is and find the root of the problem, Doctor Jones you will stay on standby incase there are any casualties or if there is any sign of alien life which we may have to eliminate.

"Eliminate?" Martha questioned.

"If there is an alien they may turn hostile, we can't always study alien life Doctor Jones. Sometimes its necessary to eliminate certain risks to the planet and ourselves." The Sergeant spoke, the jeep then pulled up nearby to where Martha made her sighting. The Sergeant and Lt Clare then vacated the vehicle leaving behind Tom and Martha.

"What do you think the problem is?" Martha said striking up a conversation to avoid an awkward silence.

"I think that it may be a rift or something, similar to rift in Cardiff that your Torchwood friends monitor." Tom said sounding displeased when it came to mentioning Torchwood, Martha noticed and pulled a silly face at him behind his back.

"Is it permanent?" Martha then added.

"I cant say for sure until I get a closer look." The man added whilst adjusting the glasses he was wearing.

"That's all London needs." Martha said with a forced laugh, this guy was a typical geek and he was boring her. His snobbish attitude towards Captain Jack and his team didn't improve her opinion of the technician. All of a sudden Tom received a transmission from his UNIT distributed communicator

'The surrounding area is secure, you are now able to run your tests.' A voice crackled

"See you later." Tom said turning round to face Martha before starting to climb out of the jeep.

"Can I come with you? I don't just want to sit around here. I can't see their being any medical emergencies." Martha asked nicely.

"Oh I don't know, you are the medical officer. Your job is to stay here like the Sergeant said." Tom answered.

"Oh come one, I've been in worst situations than this. I can handle myself, plus if the Sergeant gets in contact then I'll come straight back" Martha said with a little smile.

"Oh go on then, but don't get in the way" Tom warned.

"Whatever you say" Martha said with a grin.

* * *

Moments later both Tom and Martha were making their way closer to the rift, when all of a sudden an technical instrument Tom had fetched along with him started beeping.

"What's it saying?" Martha questioned.

"I'm not to sure yet, but this machine will be able to clarify if the rift anomaly is permanent or not." Tom said in an excited tone, the two then turned around at the sound of footsteps running up behind them. It was Lt Clare

"What the hell are you doing here, you were told to stay in the jeep" Clare said angrily.

"I wanted to help Tom investigate, now if you don't mind speaking to me in that tone. I am after all your senior officer." Martha said also sounding angry.

"It was the Sergeants orders" Clare said hissing.

"Well my orders are to get back to what you are supposed to be doing whilst I help Tom." Martha snapped.

"Mr. Harris is completely capable of carrying out this task on his own." Clare fumed, the two women then started arguing even more as Tom suddenly noticed the rift getting slightly bigger and bigger and bigger.

"Excuse me Lt Moore, Doctor Jones. I think you should see this." Tom said in a nervous tone.

"….. and furthermore, I shall be speaking to your superior." Martha said trying to sound posh, she didn't usually do this but Clare was getting on her last nerve. The two were completely oblivious to the activity the rift was doing.

"Clare, Martha. Have a look at this." Tom said almost regretting addressing the two women informally.

"What is it?" Martha and Clare both snapped, they both then turned around to face Tom who was now pointing at the rift in fear.

"RUN" Martha cried, the three of them then turned around to run but all of a sudden a dangerously high wind picked up. The wind blew Tom instead a stack of boxes on the dock where the rift was spotted, Martha and Clare however weren't so fortunate and found the wind wasn't actually wind but it was the rift sucking them towards it. Clare grabbed hold of Martha by the collar and attempted to grab onto a pole, her attempt failed however and the two women were both sucked into the rift. As soon as they had been sucked through, the rift closed almost instantly. Tom scrambled to his feet and peeked over to where Martha, Clare and the rift had disappeared from, the man looked shaken and silently mouthed the word 'shit'

* * *

After what seemed like an eternity, which probably was an eternity since the women had been sucked through a rift in space and time. Finally the rift coughed them up and slung the women into a field before sealing itself off behind them, Martha lay unconscious near a large tree trunk and the blonde Lieutenant lay a small distance away from the former time traveler.

In the distance, a tall brunette dressed in leather and short blonde woman dressed in a browny orange outfit appeared in a clearing between some trees next to the field. They spotted Martha and Clare both unconscious, gave each other warning looks and after climbing off their horse pulled out their weapons.


	2. Stranger in a strange land

Stranger in a strange land

Xena and Gabrielle had been traveling for days and it was beginning to worn the women out, even Argo was tired if all the traveling. Gabrielle wiped her forehead, whilst Xena sighed, they were on their way to visit her mother in Ampholis and she wasn't particularly looking forward to it. Gabrielle didn't mind Xena's mother but she wasn't looking forward to paying the town a visit, the pair were only going to pass the time until the day came for the meeting they arranged with Hercules and Iolaus at one of Aphrodite's temples to have a catch up.

"Oh come on lets stop for a break." Xena urged.

"The sooner we see your mother then the sooner we can shoot off to meet Hercules and Iolaus." Gabrielle said also sighing.

"We need to rest, my mother can hold on just a little while longer to see us. Come on, there's a field up ahead. We can let Argo go for a run around whilst we go to the stream and collect some water." Xena said before letting out a yawn.

"Okay." Gabrielle said.

"You know maybe we could stay the night here, mother wont mind having one day less to spend time with us." Xena said with a wicked grin.

"You read my mind." Gabrielle said also grinning as the horse moved into a clearing between some trees.

"Xena stop the horse." Gabrielle said spotting something in the distance.

"What is it." Xena said bringing the horse to a halt.

"Over there." Gabrielle said pointing, Xena looked around to where Gabby was pointing. In the distance she saw two bodies lying near some trees at the side of the field.

"Get out your weapons." Xena ordered.

"Why?" Gabrielle asked.

"Someone of something may have harmed those people and we may be walking into a trap, they themselves might be the trap." Xena said, Gabrielle nodded and the pair dismounted the horse. They both then pulled out their weapons, the two looked at each other for reassurance before moving in for a closer look.

* * *

Martha winced in pain as she regained conscious, she then sat up and quickly noticed Clare lying unconscious a couple of feet away from her.

"Clare are you alright." Martha said rushing over to the blonde girls side, there was no response. The medic then kneeled down by her side and checked for a pulse, it was still there. The woman was also breathing to Martha's relief, she didn't have a clue where she was and didn't plan on finding out on her own. She was about to stand up from her kneeling position when she spotted the brunette woman and the blonde woman advancing towards her and her fellow UNIT officer.

"Uh Oh." Martha thought to herself, she then took in a deep breath. If these women posed a threat to Clare and herself then Martha had to defend the Lieutenant, she quickly jumped to her feet coming face to face with the brunette and the blonde who were now only a couple of feet away.

* * *

Xena and Gabrielle approached the dark skinned girl with caution, they spotted the unconscious blonde woman on the floor and suspected the girl to be responsible.

"Who are you?" the girl asked in a worried tone.

"My names…" Gabrielle said stepping forward before being cut of by Xena.

"My names Xena and you are?" Xena questioned whilst giving the girl a suspicious stare.

"I'm Martha, Martha Jones." The girl said worriedly.

"That's a funny old name Martha Jones." Xena said cautiously.

"Xena's no better." The girl scoffed.

"What happened to your friend there?" Gabrielle said stepping in before Xena reacted to the insult.

"I work with her, we got transported here." The now identified Martha spoke.

"Where am I?" she added.

"Your in Greece of course, where else?" Xena scoffed.

"Oh that's no good, I need to get back to Britain." Martha said urgently.

"You mean Britannia." Gabrielle corrected, a look of horror then appeared on Martha's face as she realized the rift may have taken her and Clare further back than she anticipated.

"Doctor." Martha thought aloud.

"Doctor?" Gabrielle repeated.

"What are you on about." Xena snapped.

"My friend, I need to speak to my friend." Martha said before scrambling around her pockets trying to find something before she realized that she had left her super-phone in her lab-coat back at the UNIT base, Martha slowly slid to the floor as she realized that she was stranded and that the Doctor or anyone else would be coming to her rescue.

"Are you okay." Gabrielle said kneeling down beside her, Xena quickly moved over and pulled Martha to her feet.

"Look you don't look so good, we'll take you and your friend to the nearest town and you can get yourself sorted out." Xena offered.

"Thank you." Were the words Martha wanted to say, but the sound didn't leave her mouth. Shock and horror filled her stomach as she started to feel dazed and disoriented, Martha then passed out.

"Come on, lets get her to Ampholis." Xena said hoisting Martha over her shoulder.

"Hang on, she said her and her friend were transported here. Mortals cant transport unless something sends them, what if the Gods did this. What if they sent her here." Gabrielle said, aload of thoughts ran through her mind, they had barely met Martha and her unconscious friend when already they were trying to uncover a scheme from Ares or one of the other Olympian Deities.

"We'll figure it all out later, come on lets get the girl to mothers. Go and get her friend will you?" Xena said, Gabrielle nodded as Xena carried Martha over to Argo the horse. Gabrielle looked around to see where the unconscious blonde woman lay and discovered that she had disappeared.

"Xena the girls gone." Gabrielle shouted to her friend.

"Forget her, we'll backtrack later. We need to get this one healthy again." Xena said referring to Martha, Gabrielle once again nodded before looking back at where the body once lay. A chill trickled down her spine before she ran off to join Xena and the dark skinned girl.

In the distance, there was a presence. Somebody or something was watching Xena and Gabrielle along with their new found yet unconscious companion.


	3. Unexpected Visitor

**Dedication: **I've Lost My Profile Page and also RubyRedMorena, thank you both for the support and for reading the first two chapters. Also to all those of you who may have read it full stop, i hope it continues to entertain

**Unexpected Visitor**

Unlike their previous efforts to stay away for as long as possible, with a new purpose Xena and Gabrielle found themselves arriving in Ampholis in no time. Xena's mother Cyrene was pleased to see her daughter and Gabrielle but her pleasure turned to concern when she saw that they had brought an unexpected visitor along with them, many questions formed in Cyrene's mind about the girl because she knew her only daughter had the tendency to have trouble follow her everywhere.

"Who is she?" and "Where is she from?" along with choruses of "I hope you haven't brought trouble here with you Xena." Were consistent. "This was supposed to be a nice visit for me to spend time with you, not wait around filled with worry whilst you go off to fight."

After finally calming her mother down and filling her in on the situation, Xena was quick to join Gabrielle who was sat in one of Cyrene's spare rooms. In which Martha lay on a bed unconscious, with a mountain of covers and pillows to keep her warm and comfortable.

"How is she?" Xena asked.

"Oh she'll be fine, I think she just got a bit disoriented." Gabrielle said looking slightly guilty.

"What's the matter?" Xena said noticing Gabrielle's guilt.

"I heard your mother talking whilst I was in here, I feel guilty. All your mother wanted was a nice visit and we have probably brought danger in to her home." Gabrielle sighed.

"Look we don't know for sure that this girl is trouble." Xena said gesturing towards Martha.

"All we know is her name and that she comes from Britannia, she didn't even use the right name for that though. She called it Britain, her friend completely disappeared as well." The Amazon Queen said in a whispered tone.

"I'm usually the one who doubts people." Xena laughed.

"Look just don't jump to conclusions until she has woken up, then we can get an explanation." The Warrior Princess added.

"Your right, I suppose we should just sit and wait." Gabrielle said with a nod, at that point Martha started stirring.

"She's waking up." Xena said moving over to the bed, Martha then opened her eyes and rubbed her head. She then spotted first Xena and then Gabrielle and all the recent events that had transpired came rushing back to her.

"I was hoping that it was just a bad dream." Martha moaned.

"How are you feeling?" Gabrielle asked.

"Like I've been sucked through time and space and dumped in ancient Greece." Martha sighed whilst rubbing her head.

"Where am I?" the Medic said sitting up.

"Your in Ampholis, at my mothers house." Xena answered.

"My friend? What happened to her? Is she here?" Martha said in turn.

"No she disappeared whilst we were speaking to you." Gabrielle added.

"You keeping calling Greece ancient, why is that?" Xena said in a curious tone.

"I umm I suppose err its because it is ancient, from where I am from anyway. I guess it's quite new for you guys." Martha said struggling to find the answer.

"You said you're from Britannia, no you said you were from Britain." Gabrielle said trying to jog Martha's memory.

"I am." Martha said simply.

"But as far as I know, the place is still called Britannia. Unless the name got changed without us knowing." Xena said continuing her questions.

"There's no difference really, Britannia is what Britain used to be. I mean Britain is what Britannia is about to become." Martha said getting confused.

"Okay what's the story, what was your name Martha?" Xena urged.

"Yeah Martha Jones." Martha answered.

"Okay Martha Jones, what is the story?" Xena said sharply.

"If you don't tell us then you will make things complicated for yourself, you already seem to be struggling to explain yourself. Just tell us the truth." Gabrielle said in a softer tone than Xena's.

"Its not as simple as that." Martha said in an almost pleading tone, these women wanted answers and she didn't want to risk changing history. The blonde woman seemed nice, but the brunette named Xena seemed as though she would force the answers through some method anyway whether Martha wanted to tell her or not.

"I don't think you'd believe me, even if I told you the whole truth." Martha said with a forced laugh.

"Try us." Gabrielle challenged.

"I've told you the truth about who I am and where I come from, this is where it gets tricky… you see there's a slight problem. Me telling you all this could change things." Martha said sounding even more confused.

"Okay your letting this get complicated, when it can be straight forward so I'll ask the questions." Xena said quickly.

"Okay." Martha nodded.

"Explain about where you come from, about Britannia changing." Xena asked.

"This is what I mean about changing things." Martha said.

"Please… get to the point." Gabrielle said almost impatiently.

"Damn the Doctor, making time all complicated." Martha said.

"I don't think I should be doing this but it's a risk I'll just have to take, so here goes…" Martha added. Xena and Gabrielle all moved in closer as Martha began her explanations.

"My name is Martha Jones, I come from Britain or rather Great Britain. Also known as the United Kingdom, its called Britannia now but in the future it will be renamed Britain… you see I know this because I have…"

"Go on." Xena urged her.

"Nothing can surprise us." Gabrielle said looking at Xena.

"Well almost nothing." The Bard added.

"I have travelled through time, I am from the future… Thousands of years into the future." Martha continued to explain as looks of shock appeared on Xena and Gabrielle's faces.

"I work for a special government agency called UNIT as a Doctor."

"What's a Doctor?" Gabrielle asked.

"A healer." Martha answered with a slight smile, she didn't realise that Doctors didn't exist yet.

"Carry on." Xena pressed.

"Well I was on a team, we were investigating a rift. You know like a tear in the fabric of the universe, well the tear started getting bigger and me and the woman that was with me got sucked through it. I know the rifts are unstable and that there is no way to predict where it would cough us up but I didn't expect Greece." Martha finally finished.

"A tear in the universe?" Gabrielle said in disbelief.

"It's the truth." Martha answered.

"What's the only thing that can cause a tear in the universe? A God." Xena said.

"You think the Gods did this and brought Martha and her friend her?" Gabrielle asked.

"Hang on what are you talking about Gods?" Martha said in her own disbelieving tone.

"You said it yourself that you thought one of the Gods might be responsible, the question is which one?" Xena said over the top of Martha's comment.

"Gods!" Martha said looking confused.

"Yeah Gods! Zeus, Hera, Ares, Aphrodite. Surely you must have heard about them, even if you do live thousands if years into the future." Xena finally answered.

"They don't exist! The Olympians are just a myth! What you learn about in history lessons at primary school." Martha said.

"Of course they exist." Xena scoffed.

"Trust us, we should know." Gabrielle added.

"Gods? They can't be! They must be aliens or something." Martha said trying to think of it logically.

"Aliens? What's Aliens?" Xena asked, Martha looked from Xena to Gabrielle and then back to Xena. She was in a different land, thousands of years into earths past. Things change, things evolve. This wasn't her time or place in the universe and she just had to go with the flow instead of allowing herself to get caught up in finding answers for questions, answers that would probably never come.

"Something from my time, never mind it." Martha said quickly.

"Okay so what next?" Gabrielle said.

"Well like I said only Gods have the power to tear holes in the universe or time or whatever Martha said." Xena presumed, Martha just listened. She wasn't going to put this down to aliens, no one even in the twenty first century knew the cause of the rifts.

"The question is which one? And what are we going to do even when we find out?" Gabrielle asked.

"We make them reverse it." Xena said simply.

"How?" Gabrielle asked.

"We're meeting with Hercules and Iolaus aren't we?" Xena said with a sly smile.

"Hercules! As in the Demigod Hercules, son of Zeus. But he's a…" Martha stopped herself, she cant accuse people of just being myths.

"Come on Gabrielle, lets leave Martha to rest." Xena said walking out of the room, Gabrielle nodded and then smiled at Martha before also exiting the room. Martha let out a big frustrated sigh, how in hells name was she going to get herself out of this mess.

* * *

Iolaus was getting himself all excited, it had been ages since he had seen Xena and Gabrielle and couldn't wait to catch up with them. Hercules was kneeled a few feet away next to a river, where the half mortal/half God was busy taking a wash. His bare torso glistened in the sunlight, he was listening whilst his friend spoke.

"You know it'll be good to catch up." Iolaus smiled, Hercules nodded.

"I'm not too sure about meeting them at Aphrodite's temple, don't get me wrong I do like your sister. But she has a habit of getting us into all kinds of trouble, the same goes for Xena and Gabrielle. Something always compels her to use us and them to fix her mistakes." Iolaus said whilst trying not to sound insulting of Hercules very much older by possibly thousands or even millions of years.

"I doubt Aphrodite will even be there." Hercules laughed.

"I don't think she spends her every moment spying on us, waiting for the perfect moment to get into trouble and cry for help." The Demigod added.

"Why not, Ares and his goons seem to spend all their time picking on you." Iolaus said in turn.

"Look don't worry about my sister or the rest of my family, this is going to be a nice visit. No trouble at all." Hercules smiled, completely unaware of the events that had already transpired in Xena and Gabrielle's presence.

"If you say so." Iolaus said smiling back.

* * *

Discord stomped angrily around Ares' throne room, Ares himself was slouched in the throne itself looking annoyed.

"Tell me again why you sent Deimos to follow Xena and the bard, you know if you want a job doing properly that you have to come to me." Discord snapped, Ares laughed disbelievingly at his younger sister.

"I could do a much better job than that perfect excuse for a God." Discord tried to defend herself, at that moment a red flash of light appeared in the room and all of a sudden Deimos materialised out of thin air.

"Well?" Ares said saving any idle chitchat Deimos usually tried to share.

"I followed Xena and the pesky blonde for ages, they just seemed to be on one of their usual little trips." Deimos said.

"Your one to talk about pesky blondes." Discord scoffed.

"Is that all?" Ares asked ignoring Discord.

"No that's not even the half of it, when I was following them I travelled ahead then I could take a break. Well all of a sudden a bright spark appeared, almost like something was tearing. At first I thought it may just be one of the others materialising from Olympus, then two women were flung out of it. From what I saw they certainly weren't Gods." Deimos began.

"Two women?" Ares questioned.

"Yeah, there was a blonde chick who was knocked unconscious and a dark skinned chick, she was unconscious for a while until Xena appeared. Xena and the bard started talking to the girl, I couldn't hear what they were saying but after that the girl collapsed. Xena scooped her up and carried her away, Ares looked at him with satisfaction.

"What happened to the other woman?" Discord cut in.

"The who?" Deimos gulped, Ares smile faded a bit.

"The other woman, who was unconscious." A wicked smile appeared on the equally wicked Goddess's face.

"I… I didn't take notice, she… she just disappeared… whilst I was watching Xena." Deimos stuttered.

"You idiot!" Ares said jumping out of his seat, Discord rubbed her hands together gleefully.

"To be fair you only wanted me to spy on Xena." Deimos shook in fear, Ares said nothing. A knowing look appeared on his face as a fireball materialised in his hand, seconds later Deimos was hurled across the throne room whilst Discord cackled with laughter.

"How about I…" Discord began to suggest.

"No." Ares stopped her.

"If you want a job doing, don't send idiots to do it when you can do a better job yourself." The War God added shooting a dangerous stare at the Goddess of Retribution and with that the angry Olympian Deity dematerialised in a steam of dark blue.

"He scares me." Deimos said almost sobbing, Discord just looked at him and shook her head in disgust before dematerialising herself.


	4. An audience with the King

**A small note: **It's nothing major but I've made a slight spelling mistake, the town where Xena's mother lives where Martha has been taken is called Amphipolis. I have been calling it Ampholis in previous chapters, a simple mistake. I'll take more care to listen for town names next time lol

**An audience with the King**

As the days passed, Xena and Gabrielle made the immediate decision to help Martha whilst uncovering the reason for which Martha had been dragged thousands of years into her past. Martha found the entire situation all very daunting but she was glad two complete strangers were giving up the time to help her, not to mention the risks that might be involved. Maybe they were like the Doctor? The two women, not even knowing people but still being brave enough to jump in and help with no second thoughts. Martha had regained all her strength pretty much straight away but chose to remain in the room that Xena had placed her in, the mother who she had yet to learn the name of popped into the room occasionally but always displayed a look of displeasure when her and Martha established eye contact, it made Martha feel extremely uneasy but the mothers daughter and her friend didn't have to help.

"How are you?" Gabrielle said, Martha suddenly returned to reality from a day dream. The day had finally come for Gabrielle and Xena to head off for the meeting and now she and Martha were stood in front of Cyrene's house, waiting by Argo who had been loaded up with all their belongings.

"Now you be careful." Cyrene said as she followed her daughter out of the house.

"I'll be fine mom." Xena sighed, typical mother always well mothering her.

"Don't worry, I'll make sure she behaves." Gabrielle laughed as she ran her fingers through her hair.

"I know you will." The older woman smiled, shooting a cautious look towards Martha who felt out of place and was keeping quiet. A twinge filled Martha's stomach, her mother used to treat the Doctor the same way Xena's mother was treating her. Like they were going to drag their daughters into some crazy dangerous situation, she missed her mother. She had barely been gone but a terrifying possibility remained at the back of her mind that she would never see her mother, father, Tish, Leo and her fiancée again. Did Xena or Gabrielle have brothers and sisters? She never thought to ask.

"Come on, lets get out of her quick. Before she starts molly coddling me." Xena said in a hushed tone, as her mother watched on waving. Gabrielle laughed and Martha smiled as the started walking down the track on their way out of Amphipolis.

"I'm so sorry for burdening you like this." Martha said suddenly, her face filled with an apologetic expression.

"Don't be silly, its what we do." Gabrielle answered.

"She's right." Xena nodded.

"I know but your supposed to be meeting your friends, when I meet my friends I prefer a nice relaxing time having a laugh and getting drunk. Not having people materialise from a space and time rift causing a distraction." Martha said.

"If we didn't want to help you then we wouldn't." Xena said simply, Martha nodded in appreciation.

"Now lets get a move on, if we are quick then we should get to the temple before sundown." Gabrielle added.

* * *

Hercules groaned impatiently, he and Iolaus had arrived at the temple quite some time ago and there will still no sign of Xena and Gabrielle yet they were the ones who were supposed to have a horse. Hercules and Iolaus had run for most of the distance and walked for the rest, Iolaus was sitting on a pink chair with pink velvet pillows looking around cautiously.

"How's my favourite brother doing." A voice suddenly said, the speaker being invisible. Iolaus covered his face whilst Hercules laughed, a pink shower of lights and flowers then appeared in the temple as Aphrodite the Goddess of Love materialised into the room. She let out an excited squeal and rushed to hug the half God, Hercules opened his arms and reached out to embrace her.

"It's good to see you." Hercules said gently squeezing the blonde, before releasing her from his brotherly grasp.

"How are you Curly?" Aphrodite said with a beam turning to face Iolaus, he removed his hands from his face and forced a smile.

"I'm fine." He said begrudgingly, now Iolaus didn't want to be misinterpreted. He did like his best pals Goddess of a sister, but he was just waiting for her to cause a problem and hope for them to fix it.

"So sis, what brings you to this neck of the woods?" Hercules asked.

"Oh I just wanted to check how my little bro was doing? Besides this is my temple after all." Aphrodite said as an inquisitive expression appeared on her face.

"Rumour has it that you are meeting Xena and the bard." She added.

"So what if I am?" Hercules said, curious as to why his sister was asking.

"Hmmm interesting, so are you and her planning to you know… do the dirty." Aphrodite giggled.

"Of course not, me and Xena are just friends. Anything we might have done is in the past only." Hercules said in a matter of fact tone.

"Oh…" Aphrodite said sounding slightly disappointed.

"How about you and Gabby Curly?" the Goddess almost snapped.

"No… of course not… well… No… don't be silly." Iolaus said, the question taking him completely by surprise.

"Yeah right." Aphrodite smiled wickedly as she spoke.

"So whats new sis?" Hercules said awkwardly, trying to change the subject.

"Oh you know the usual, carrying out my Godly duties. Being a good wife to my Hephy." Aphrodite said with a light sigh.

"How's Zeus?" Hercules asked.

"Same old, same old. Having his affairs, Hera finding out and being furious. Blah, blah, blah." Aphrodite said in a careless tone.

"The others?" Hercules continued, he never particular cared for a majority of his family members. But it never hurt keeping tabs on what they were upto, especially if what they were upto concerned Hercules and any other innocent mortals.

"Are you snooping little bro?" the beauty asked.

"Who me? Of course, you can't be too careful. Especially with brothers, sisters, step-mothers and cousins like ours." Hercules spoke.

"Like I need to tell you what they are upto, you can probably guess." Aphrodite said rolling her eyes, Hercules laughed and then turned around. To his shock he almost collided with none over than his father Zeus! Hercules eyes widened as he almost jumped out of his skin.

"Thanks for the warning." Hercules said breathlessly.

"Daddy!" Aphrodite squealed.

"Oh I'm only a fan of appearing using light shows when I'm making grand entrances." Zeus spoke in a soft yet commanding tone.

"To what do we owe the honour." Hercules said finally calming down.

"Yeah you don't usually come down from Olympus unless its for big business, that or when you are visiting one of your lovers." Aphrodite said in a careless tone, Zeus gave her a slight stare. Causing a nervous look to appear on his daughters face, making her regret being so careless with her words. Iolaus just looked on from where he was sat with great awe lining his face, he'd met the great King of the Gods before but it was still a grand sight laying eyes on him.

"Ares is upto something." Zeus said simply.

"Whats new." Hercules scoffed.

"Forgive me, something is going on that Ares knows about. But no one is sure what it is, we are only aware because of whispers around Mount Olympus." Zeus added.

"Whispers?" the half mortal son asked.

"Discord and Deimos, they aren't sharing with the rest of us but something is going on. I overheard them speaking in one of the chambers, I didn't hear much except Ares' name popped up." Aphrodite quickly said, a light bulb seemed to switch on in her mind.

"So? You're the King father, force tweedle dumb and tweedle dee to spill the beans." Hercules suggested.

"Its not as simple as that, Deimos isn't clever but Discord is cunning. She will deny any knowledge and threaten Deimos to do the same." The age old King spoke.

"So what? You want me to find out whats going on, well no I cant. Iolaus and I are meeting Xena and Gabrielle today and we want a nice relaxing catch up." The muscle-bound hunk said.

"Don't worry about finding out my son, all I ask is that you keep your ear to the ground. There is more chance of mortals finding out than the Gods up on Olympus, do this for me son." Zeus said.

"Okay I'll do it."

"Oh your great." Aphrodite ran into her brother's arms and hugged him gently.

"Come my daughter, Hercules and his friend are expecting people. We wont keep them any longer." Zeus spoke, Aphrodite nodded and then smiled at both Hercules and Iolaus before grabbing her fathers hand. The King and his Princess then disappeared in a shower of sparkles.

"Oh now he decides to use the light show." Hercules in an annoyed tone, Iolaus then looked towards the doorway after hearing the sound of a horse outside.

"Herc they're here." Iolaus said in an excited tone before rushing off to greet his friends, a small twinge of excitement filled Hercules stomach before he decided to run after him.

* * *

"We're here." Xena said happily.

"You'll like Hercules and Iolaus, they're great guys." Gabrielle said enthusiastically, Xena nodded as Martha smiled.

"They'll help you as well." Xena added.

"I really appreciate this." Martha said thankfully.

"You're a very polite girl, most people just expect our help." Gabrielle laughed.

"I only hope that I can find my friend before I go back, it wouldn't sit well with my seniors if I just left her here." Martha said in a worried tone.

"It will all be fine now just relax, at least meet Hercules and let us have a good old gossip before you work yourself up." Xena smiled.

"Of course." Martha said, guilt filled her stomach, Xena and Gabrielle then looked at the temple doors and beamed their best as two strapping men came rushing through to greet them.

"Fancy seeing you here." Xena joked as the two men came to a half in front of them, Xena first hugged Hercules whilst Iolaus hugged Gabrielle. They then swapped and whilst Xena hugged Iolaus, Gabrielle hugged Hercules. Martha remained near Argo, standing awkwardly like she didn't belong.

"I'd like you to meet someone." Xena said, Hercules and Iolaus both looked confused until they saw the dark haired beauty wearing strange clothes, standing by Xena's beloved horse. They then watched Xena beckoned and the girl walked forwards.

"This is Martha." Gabrielle made the introduction.

"It's a pleasure to meet you." Martha smiled, Iolaus stepped forwards and shook Martha's hand. Hercules however just remained where he was standing, looking at Martha in awe.

_'By the Gods, she's beautiful'_

"It's a pleasure to meet you too, I'm Iolaus and this is Hercules." Iolaus said, Hercules suddenly came to his senses and stepped forwards.

"Very nice to meet you." Hercules said taking Martha's hand gently.

"Lets go inside, we need to explain a few things." Xena suggested, the rest of them complied and started making their way towards the temple. With Hercules shooting glances at Martha, Xena picked up on this and felt slight twinges of jealousy.

_'Pull yourself together'_


End file.
